In just 10 days, pension contribution rates for regional universities and quasi-state agencies are set to about double.  “It was one of those deals when once again, something was getting done at the very end of the session,” Larry Totten said of House Bill 358.  When the legislature passed HB 358 on the very last night of the legislative session, Totten, the president of the Kentucky Public Retirees, felt it was a bad move.  “It was pretty obvious that it was not a bipartisan piece of legislation, that there were issues that came up after it was passed that was not a surprise,” explained Totten.

Both Totten, and his counterpart with the Kentucky Government Retirees, Jim Carroll, say they were happy Governor Matt Bevin vetoed the bill. “I was relieved he vetoed the bill, because it had some serious problems with the bill having to do with the contract rights of participants inKentucky Retirement Systems,” Carroll said. However, they say Bevin’s replacement bill isn’t much better. Carroll said, “Think it’s a bad bill because it basically turns Kentucky retirement systems into a bank. It makes KRS, the Kentucky Retirement System basically take on the risk of allowing quasi government employers to leave the system and to pay off their liabilities over decades and that’s a bad idea when we’re the nation’s worst funded state pension system.”

“The bill has issues, not the least of which is that is penalizes, to some degree, Tier 1 and Tier 2 employees, depending on how their employers chose to leave KRS,” added Totten. Totten said he’s pleased with some of the governors changes to the original bill.  “It’s got some things that the governor tried to address in his four points that he agreed to change. The fact that in the first version, a state employee could not sue a bill, was something I’d never seen before.”

Bevin has said he won’t call a special session until he has the votes. Senator Chris McDaniel (R-Taylor Mill) said he isn’t sure if Bevin has the votes yet.  McDaniel told reporters, “Whether the House has the votes, I don’t know at this point. No-one has told me that the definitely do, so I just don’t know the answer to that question.”

Suzanne Miles (R-Owensboro), who is the majority caucus chair insinuated the House does not have the necessary votes, but did say she has been looking at scheduling. “I have been cross referencing multiple calendars and conferences. We have a lot of people who are signed up for conferences. As you know, if the governor calls a special session, those arrangements will be canceled and people will be coming in, rather than going to conferences. And that’s part of it. And we all know,” said Miles. Totten and Carroll are both hoping for more changes before the special session is called.

Carroll requested, “Lets look at putting funding, so these quasi government agencies can participate in KRS and not dis-enroll all of their employees. What we say is freeze it and then fund it. So lets go ahead and freeze the contribution rate that they’re paying now, that they’ve paid over the last fiscal year, for another year, and then lets take a serious look at funding options for the 2020 session.” Totten says he that’s what he wants, but he says he doesn’t think that will happen. If that doesn’t happen, he says he has an alternative, explaining, “What I want to happen is KRS get its funding so that all of us that worked 30 and 40 and 50 years in the system have pensions as we were promised when we were hired. Now, how you get there. There’s obviously different paths to how you get there. And funding on that isn’t part of the issue. I used to call it a hole in the dyke, now I think it’s more of a whack-a-mole issue.” Rates will go up July 1, the first payment at those rates won’t be due until the end of July, so lawmakers say they do have a bit more time.

Legislation increasing state contributions to the $145.4 billion Texas Teacher Retirement System, Austin, passed the Texas House of Representatives and Senate on Sunday.

The House voted 145-1 and Senate, 31-0, to approve the final version of legislation previously passed by the Legislature in April.

The amended Senate Bill 12, originally filed by Sen. Joan Huffman, would gradually increase contributions from teachers, employers and the state to the pension trust fund. The state’s contribution will increase to 8.25% from 6.8% of the statewide teacher salary cost over the next five years. The original April bill called for statewide contributions to increase to 8.8%.

The bill also authorizes a one-time supplemental payment of up to $2,000 to plan participants who retired prior to 2019. The original April bill has a payment of up to $2,400 for participants who retired prior to 2017.

Also under the revised bill, member contributions would increase to 8% from 7.7% as of Sept. 1, 2021, and then 8.25% as of Sept. 1, 2023. Employer contributions, which include public schools or regional education centers, will rise by 10 basis points per year until reaching 2% as of Sept. 1, 2024, from the current 1.5%.

The retirement system’s funding ratio was 76.9% as of Aug. 31, 2018, according to its most recent comprehensive financial annual report.

The bill has been sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. A spokesman for Mr. Abbott could not immediately provide any comment on whether he plans to sign the bill.

Austin Arceneaux, Ms. Huffman’s spokesman, could not be immediately reached to provide comment.

Branford police officers once again will earn traditional pensions after the Representative Town Meeting unanimously approved both a new four-year police union contract and a new pension agreement Tuesday night.

Union President Sgt. Stanley Konesky hailed the change, which union members previously ratified, as “just a win-win” for both the union and the town.

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome,” Konesky said after the vote. “It’s beneficial to everyone.”

Police Chief Jonathan Mulhern and Capt. John Alves agreed.

Mulhern said one big problem has been that the current “defined contribution plan,” akin to a 401(k), provided very limited disability coverage — a scary thing to many police officers who know the occupation can be high-risk when it comes to on-the-job injuries.

“It’s huge for us,” said Alves, who runs the department’s recruitment program, which saw a huge jump in applicants after word filtered out that the town planned to switch back from a defined contribution plan to a traditional “defined benefit” pension plan.

The Police Department recently cut its pool of 186 applicants to 70, he said.

Alves said he expected the return to pensions to improve the Police Department’s ability to retain current officers, as well.

“We’ve lost a lot of really good people” who left jobs in Branford to go to other police departments that had pensions, he said.

The move, which had been discussed for several years, was done to stem what has been an increased rate of departure for both experienced officers and relatively new hires and make Branford a more attractive destination for new recruits and transfers from other departments.

The town switched to the defined contribution plan in 2011.

The RTM’s Ways & Means and Public Services committees previously approved both the pension agreement and the labor contract — which will give officers 2.5 percent increases each year — in a joint special meeting.

Tuesday night, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Peter Black, R-3, said the initial cost of the switch to the town is estimated at $25,000, “but we’re also going to save a lot on officer retention.”

“We’re actually going to come out saving a bunch of money,” Black said.

RTM member Tom Brockett, D-7, also called the switch “a win-win” for both the union and the town. He pointed out that over the past few years, the town’s pool of new applicants had dried up, and lateral transfers originally anticipated — experienced officers coming in from other towns — didn’t happen because of a change in state interpretation of the rules.

The state comptroller’s office ruled that if an officer were to retire from a town that was part of the Connecticut Municipal Employees Retirement System, they would have to put their pension on hold if they went to work for another CMERS municipality.

“The return of the defined benefit plan will allow the town to hire better officers and retain more officers,” Brockett said.

Konesky previously said that “the worst part about the situation since 2011 is that for “officers who came here and only had a 401, they had no disability.”

The job “is inherently dangerous,” he said. “God forbid, you get hurt, you have the protection now.”

The Texas legislature passed a bill Thursday aimed at shoring up the state teachers’ pension fund and giving its retired members a standalone bonus.

The bill would increase state contributions to the $154.3 billion Texas Teachers Retirement System by 2% over the next five years and give the retirees a one-time “13^thcheck” of a maximum $2,400 by September 2020 in addition to their monthly checks of the same amount.

The original version of the bill, passed in March, would have increased contributions from the state, school districts, and current school employees, while shrinking check 13 down to a $500 cap. The money would have come from $542 million in Texas’ savings account.